Sorry if this is a repeated thread but I couldn’t find anything with the terms I search the forum with.
This site: http://here-one.com/ has ridiculous prices on Oakleys. I figure that they’re knock off (made in a difference factory with different materials). My question: are they safe? All lens sold in the US are required to have a UV blocking treatment. Otherwise, you get serious damage from spending time in the sun with a dilated pupil and no UV protection. Would these fake lenses have the same treatment?
A member just posted this in our club’s Facebook group - I was curious if anyone had experience.
its a crap shoot, i have purchased a pair that i swear they were real oakleys, then the last pair i have purchase are horrible, the lens totally sucks…
There was a video posted on here a couple years ago of slow motion video of lenses under impact, one from a fired ball bearing and the other a dropped weight, demonstrating the differences in how lenses break/bend/shatter under impact. Perhaps it was oakley propaganda (I think a sponsored athlete posted it). Still, it drove home that I would rather ride with 10 dollar Home Depot safety glasses than inexpensive knock-offs of designer labels. Of course the odds of taking a pebble in the eye on the road are probably pretty low.
I purchased some after market lenses for a pair of flak jackets. I think the seller on ebay is Wallega…or something like that. Just as good as Oakley lenses…and a fraction of the cost. Plus…they had vented flak jacket lenses. Unfortunately, they do not make Radar Lock lenses.
XYZ optics is Oakley’s patent on their lenses. I have been through Oakley demo’s a few times.
Impact: Yes, Oakley can protect your eyes from debris, branches, ball bearings and rocks flying into your eye. I ‘think’ they could with-stand the impact of a ball bearing at 60 mph. (?!?!?!)
UVA & UVB: Oakley lens are not coated like the majority of the market and these cheap-shit-mock-off’s. Their lenses, correct my spelling if I am wrong, under the XYZ patent ‘plutonite’ material. Not plastic but not glass. If you scratch a coated lens and your pupil is dilated, you’re getting 100% UVA & UVB rays directly in and uninterrupted via your eye ball. You still want a cheap lens? Oakley plutonite is solid UV material all the way through. Scratches will not harm your eyes with Oakley lenses.
Corrected vision: When you look through ‘most’ lenses, your vision has to be corrected via your brain. Not with XYZ optics. The angle in which the lens are shaped allows for you to look anywhere from about 5’-20’ without your brain having to straighten your vision. With ‘most’ sun-glasses, your eyeballs could be looking in 2 different directions. Your brain automatically corrects this causing some people to get a nasty headache. They have a “Oakley Manikin Head Laser Demo” that is arguable with some companies yet quite compelling.
XYZ optics has a lock down on their patents and for that matter the market. The only company who has XYZ optics is Dragon and that’s because if Oakley fails 1 lens test in a batch (maybe 1000 in a batch,) they get boxed up and sent across the street to dragon.
Some of my info may be distorted from memory, as it’s been 10 years since my last demo, but this is the overall idea of what “Oakley presented to me any many of their high end retailer employees.”
I think pilots in certain crafts can only use XYZ optics? Anyone know about this?
You’re playing jeopardy with your eyes. Don’t protect them with shit.
Dude, you are asking this in an internet forum comprised of people who are convinced that the only wheel maker in the world that makes a light, aero, and safe wheel is zipp and they will line up like sheep to shell out $2500 a set. In their simple little minds any other wheel will either act as a parachute, weighs more than an anvil or will self destruct on its first descent.
With that said, they are freaking sunglasses. You will be fine with the knock offs. Your eyes will not immediately boil if they are not overpriced oakleys.
immediate no…over time…YES. Wheels are not protecting your eye balls from UV rays. Eye damage is real. Aero testing has a great deal of “grey.” (And that’s a Rappster shade of grey.)
I wear contacts (which most are UV blocking) so glasses with less than stellar UV blocking ability doesn’t worry me. I’d rather have 10$ faukley and 150 in my pocket than the other way around
I have knock off clear replacement lenses for my jawbones via an ebay seller that has sold thousands of them with near perfect feedback; they are fine for winter riding. A little harder to get in the frame but vent fine. Wouldn’t want to find out if they are impact resistant to the same standards Oakley’s are.
I did have a bizarre head on accident this past August while wearing my Jawbones on & genuine lense in; probably a good thing too. Impact was so severe that the lense popped out of frame but was undamaged.
The frame/lense combo purchase would worry me for a slew of reasons as the last couple of accidents I’ve had have involved contact w/the my face & near my eyes I’m a bit concerned about how generic products that aren’t subjected to safety testing would hold up in accident involving hard contact w/face.
I honestly cannot fathom risking my eyes over $100.
I’ve witnessed several family members go blind through macular degeneration and it is not pretty. if shelling out an extra few hundred bucks gives me an even .00001% chance of delaying that type of disease I’ll do it.
i’m constantly amazed that guys will shell out huge money on going .4sec a kilometer faster but won’t protect their eyes. Besides I’m a sunglass whore and I still only buy a pair every 5 years or so. that’s pretty cheap insurance in my book. You don’t have to buy the most expensive pair out there, but know where they are coming from at least.
Fake Oakleys typically use ploycarb lenses (poly carb blocks ~90% of UV naturally…add in the grey tint and you’re probably at 95%+…they are fakes, so you can’t count on them to add any additional treatment).
The fakes have much cheaper frames that break over time, and don’t retain the lenses in the event of a crash (this is a big issue for me).
IMO it’s better to drop $100 on some real Oakleys that you will keep for years . I just got some Jawbones on closeout for $100, and you can find used Oakleys in the $50 range on ST classifies or eBay.
I agree. The fake ones might be ok for a few uses, but the cheapness will come out quickly and they don’t have the same r&d going into the lenses on a protection level. Just watch the for sale forum here and scoop up some for 75$.
brad in a matter of seconds i would imagine your link or even whole post will be removed.
Interesting prediction.
Thanks to everyone else who chimed in on this thread. It still sounds like a personal decision: $25 for Faux-leys that last a season or $100 for the real deal?
Additional thanks to those who reviewed their Faux-ley experience. Always interested in hearing if a BikesDirect/PlanetX/Faux-ley purchase is satisfying in the long run. Good stuff.
